Condenser



Jan. 8, 1963 Filed Oct. 6.

Jan. 8, 1963 L. PLATT ETAL CONDENSER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Ot. 6. 1960 United States Patent Office Patented Jan. 8, 19,63

3,071,823 CONDENSER Louis Platt, Seneca, and Henry V. Manseau, Greenville, S.C., assignors to Saco-Lowell lShops, Boston, Mass., a corporation of Maine Filed Oct. 6, 1960, Ser. No. 60,950 Claims. (Cl. 19-203) The present invention relates to apparatus for the cleaning of textile liber and more particularly relates to an improved condenser of the type used in the opening line in the processing of cotton.

In the preparation of cotton and other textile fibers, the fiber is subjected to an opening operation as a part of the preparatory treatment. As a part of this operation the cotton is passed through a condenser which serves, among other purposes, to remove dust, motes, dirt and other extraneous materials.

The present invention has as an object to provide an improved condenser of this type.

Another object is to provide a condenser for the clean- 'ing of textile liber which will more thoroughly remove dust, dirt, hull pepper and other foreign material.

' A further object is to provide such an improved condenser which includes means for turning over the traveling textile liber stock as it passes through the condenser to aid in the release and removal of foreign material.

Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of a presently preferred embodiment thereof wherein reference is made to the accompanying drawings, in which,

FIG. 1 is an elevation of the condenser partly broken i away;

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional View taken on line 2 2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged detail view of the fiber stock agitation and doffer mechanism, and,

FIG. 4 is a vertical mid-sectional view of a modilication, or alternative embodiment, of the invention.

In accordance with the invention, we provide in an otherwise conventional condenser as known in the cotton industry, means intermediate the stock inlet and the dolfer for removing the traveling stock from the face of the condenser drum, turning it over and replacing it on the surface of the condenser drum with at least a substantial part of its liber at its face which previously was in contact with the drum located on the outside, that is out of contact with the drum surface.

Referring to the particular embodiments shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 of the drawings, the condenser comprises a condenser drum 2 having a foraminous cylindrical wall or screen 4 suitably supported on a drum shaft 6 as by means of spokes 8. The drum is open at both ends and is enclosed in the upper portion of a housing 10. A partition 12 at one side of the housing (FIG. l) is provided with a circular opening 14 generally coinciding with the open end of the drum 2 in that side of the housing. A similar partition (not shown) is located at the other end of the drum. In the lower portion of the housing is housed a centrifugal exhaust fan 16 having an impeller 18 and having its intake 2t) in communication with the interior of the condenser drum 2 through the opening 14 (and the similar opening in the other end of the drum), as appears in FIG. 1. The fan 16 discharges at 22 to the outside of the housing 10.

The textile liber stock to be treated enters the upper chamber of the housing 10 through an inlet 24, from which it is taken by the air movement in the housing and collected and distributed on the outside surface of the condenser drum 2. As seen in FIG. 2, the condenser drum rotates clockwise, carrying the liber stock upwardly from the inlet 24, over the top of the drum and to the doifer 26 by which the textile liber stock is removed from the condenser drum and discharged from the housing at 2S. In its travel with the condenser drum the stock is subjected to a iiow of air from the housing 10 through the stock, through the condenser screen 4 and into the inside of the condenser drum. This air ow picks up dust and other relatively line foreign matter originally present in the stock and removes it from the stock to be discharged from the condenser with the air at discharge opening 22.

In accordance with the invention we providea rotary means at 30, located adjacent the outer surface of the condenser drum screen 4, at a point between the inlet 24 and the dolfer 26, which serves to remove the stock from the condenser drum and redeposit it on the drum, thereby promoting effective removal of dust, dirt and other foreign matter. In the embodiment shown this stock removing and redepositing member 30 comprises a shell 32 suitably supported for rotation on a shaft 34 and carrying on its outer surface' a series of equally spaced blades or plates 36. The member 30 may be similar to or the same as the conventional condenser dolfer roll, such as that employed at 26. As the member 30 rotates, the blades 36 (FIG. 3) pick up the fiber stock as separate pieces or strips of stock 38, the upward velocity of the liber stock assisted by the fan action of member 30 maintaining the stock within the spaces between blades 36 for the brief interval required to transport the stock from the surface of the screen 4 into engagement with the housing of member 30. The separate pieces or strips of stock 38 are carried on the shell 32 between the blades 36 and redeposited as shown diagrammatically at 38', 38, FIG. 3. As the strips 38 are carried around by the member 3l) they are turned over so that at least a substantial part of the liber at their surface 40, which was originally the outer surface, is laid against the screen 4 as the strips are redeposited at 38 on the screen 4. In this way the cleaning action of the air stream of the condenser is applied lirst from one surface of the web of stock and then from the opposite surface of the web of stock, with the result that a more thorough cleaning action is obtained and the cleaning action is more uniform depthwise of the web of liber stock. It is preferred that the surface speed of the member 30 be considerably higher than the surface speed of the screen 4 so that the redepositing of the fiber stock is done with some force, thus promoting separation of the dirt particles from the liber.

The condenser is driven from a suitable power source (notrshown) through a drive pulley 42 on the shaft 44 of the exhaust fan 16, a pulley 43 at the opposite end of shaft 44 and suitable additional pulleys and belting generally shown at 46. The condenser drum 2, the stock removing member 30 and the doffer 26 are all driven in the same direction of rotation and at suitable relative speeds.

The condenser, with the exception of the stock removing member 30, may be substantially or entirely conventional in construction and, therefore, has not been described in great detail.

Referring now to FIG. 4, the invention may be applied to forms of textile fiber cleaning apparatus different from the drum condenser heretofore described. In this modification, an endless apron 50 is formed of any suitable material, such as wire screening, to provide at its upper flight a surface for supporting the textile v liber stock to be cleaned in a manner analogous to the of power of one or both of pulleys 52, 54. An exhaust duct 56 opens into the space beneath the upper ight of the apron 50 so that there is a lowering of the air pressure between the upper flight and a bafe plate S disposed between the apron ights. This lowering of air pressure brings about an air flow downwardly through the openings of the upper flight of the apron 50, corresponding to the ow of air into the drum 2 in the modification of FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, to remove dust and other foreign matter from the textile fiber stock and carry it away in the air stream.

The textile fiber stock is fed to the trailing end of the upper surface of the upper flight of apron 50 through an inlet opening 60 whence it moves with the upper ight to the left to be discharged at a discharge opening 62, by the action of a conventional doifer roll 54 located adjacent the upper surface of the upper flight of apron 50 near its leading end.

At various points along the extent of the upper flight are located stock removing rolls 66, corresponding in structure and function to the stock removing roll 3G of the embodiment of FIGS. l, 2 and 3. The rolls 66 are driven so that their surface adjacent the upper flight of the apron moves counter to the apron, for the reasons described above for rotation of the roll 30 in the same direction as the drum 2. The rolls 66 remove the stock from the upper ight of the apron 5t) in the form of transverse strips, carry the strips around over the roll and thus turn them over, and redeposit them on the apron, as previously described in connection with the screen 4, with their face which originally was down now facing upwardly, promoting thorough and uniform cleaning of the ber as previously described. Dust and other foreign material released and removed from the liber is carried off with the stream of air through the suction duct 56 and discharged from the apparatus.

We claim:

l. Apparatus for the cleaning of textile liber comprising a movable foraminous member providing a supporting surface for the fiber stock to be cleaned, a housing enclosing at least a portion of said surface of said foraminous member, exhaust means for lowering the air pressure on the side of said member opposite said supporting surface, means for feeding textile fiber stock to be cleaned to said supporting surface, a doffer for removing cleaned stock from said supporting surface spaced along said surface from said feeding means, and a rotary member having peripheral parts thereof engaging said housing, said rotary member being located adjacent said surface between said feeding means and said dolfer for lifting sections of said stock from the surface, containing each section between adjacent peripheral parts of said rotary member, turning each section over and forcefully redepositing the same on its opposite face on the surface.

2. Apparatus for the cleaning or textile ber comprising a rotatable foraminous drum, exhaust means for withdrawing air from the interior of the drum, means for feeding textile fiber stock to be cleaned to the outer surface of the drum, a housing enclosing at least a part of the surface of said drum, a differ for removing cleaned stock from the drum spaced around the drum periphery from said feeding means, and a rotary member having peripheral parts thereof engaging said housing, said rotary member being located adjacent the drum surface between said feeding means and said doifer for lifting sections of said stock from the drum, containing each section between adjacent peripheral parts of said rotary member, turning each section over, and redepositing the same on its opposite face on the drum.

3. Apparatus for the cleaning of textile fiber comprising a movable endless foraminous apron, exhaust means for drawing air from the outer surface of a flight of the apron through said flight, a housing enclosing the outer surface of said flight, means for feeding textile liber stock to be cleaned to said outer surface, a doffer for removing cleaned stock from said outer surface at a point spaced from said feeding means in the direction of travel of the said flight, and a rotary member having peripheral parts thereof engaging said housing, said rotary member being located adjacent said surface between said feeding means and said doffer for lifting sections of said stock from said apron, containing each section between adjacent peripheral parts of said rotary member, and redepositing the same on its opposite face on said apron.

4. Apparatus for the cleaning of textile ber comprising a movable endless generally horizontal foraminous apron providing on its upper ight a supporting surface for the ber stock to be cleaned, a housing enclosing said supporting surface of said upper ight, exhaust means for drawing air downwardly through said upper ight, means for feeding textile fiber stock to be cleaned on to the upper surface of the trailing end of said upper flight, a doer for removing cleaned stock from the leading end of said upper flight, and a rotary member having peripheral parts thereof engaging said housing, said rotary member being located adjacent the upper surface of said upper flight between said feeding means and said dolfer for lifting sections of said stock from the upper surface of said upper ight, containing each section between adjacent peripheral parts of said rotary member, turning each section over, and forcefully redepositing the same on its opposite face on said upper surface.

5. A condenser for the cleaning of cotton comprising a rotatable foraminous condenser drum, exhaust means for withdrawing air from the interior of the drum, means for feeding cotton to be cleaned to the exterior of the drum at a fixed point, a housing enclosing said drum, a rotary doter for removing cleaned cotton from the drum at a point spaced around the periphery of the drum from the point at which the cotton is fed to the drum, and a second rotary doifer having peripheral parts thereof engaging said housing, said rotary dotfer being located adjacent the drum surface between the point at which cotton is fed to the drum and the point at which the cotton is doifed, said second doffer being rotatable in the same direction as said drum and having radially-disposed blades as peripheral parts thereof spaced around its periphery for lifting sections of said cotton from the drum, containing each section between adjacent peripheral parts of said rotary member, turning each section over and forcefully redepositing the same on its opposite face on the drum.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,815,593 Schofield July 2l, 1931 2,269,085 Morgan Jan. 6, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS 229,787 Great Britain Mar. 5, 1925 

1. APPARATUS FOR THE CLEANING OF TEXTILE FIBER COMPRISING A MOVABLE FORAMINOUS MEMBER PROVIDING A SUPPORTING SURFACE FOR THE FIBER STOCK TO BE CLEANED, A HOUSING ENCLOSING AT LEAST A PORTION OF SAID SURFACE OF SAID FORAMINOUS MEMBER, EXHAUST MEANS FOR LOWERING THE AIR PRESSURE ON THE SIDE OF SAID MEMBER OPPOSITE SAID SUPPORTING SURFACE, MEANS FOR FEEDING TEXTILE FIBER STOCK TO BE CLEANED TO SAID SUPPORTING SURFACE, A DOFFER FOR REMOVING CLEANED STOCK FROM SAID SUPPORTING SURFACE SPACED ALONG SAID SURFACE FROM SAID FEEDING MEANS, AND A ROTARY MEMBER HAVING PERIPHERAL PARTS THEREOF ENGAGING SAID HOUSING, SAID ROTARY MEMBER BEING LOCATED ADJACENT SAID SURFACE BETWEEN SAID FEEDING MEANS AND SAID DOFFER FOR LIFTING SECTIONS OF SAID STOCK FROM THE SURFACE, CONTAINING EACH SECTION BETWEEN ADJACENT PERIPHERAL PARTS OF SAID ROTARY MEMBER, TURNING EACH SECTION OVER AND FORCEFULLY REDEPOSITING THE SAME ON ITS OPPOSITE FACE ON THE SURFACE. 